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So google gets one of these requests and supposedly its from a police force in a small town that has no government website. How do they know who to call to conf

So google gets one of these requests and supposedly its from a police force in a small town that has no government website. How do they know who to call to confirm?

l33t2328 5y ago
The secretary of state for that state can provide that information.
- cortesoft 5y ago
  Only in the United States. There are almost two hundred countries in the world. What if the request comes in from Kiribati?
- coospep 5y ago
  If you give them days, weeks or perhaps months to come up with a response. Sure. Not going to work internationally anyway.
  - verve_rat 5y ago
    You are being intentionally argumentative, and not in a devil's advocate, let's explore all the consequences of the topic at hand kind of way. You are engaging in bad faith, please stop it.
    - Forgeties79 5y ago
      [flagged]
    - rosndo 5y ago
      That’s really not the case. What is “bad faith” about suggesting that the secretary of state probably isn’t going to rapidly solve this problem for you? It’s not even about being a “devils advocate”, the balance of probabilities rests squarely on the side of this being far more difficult than many commenters here try to make it out to be. I think it is you who is engaging in bad faith.
rootusrootus 5y ago
County? State? I would argue that this should be the method anyway. Start from the lowest level of known authentic bureaucracy and then work down from there until you reach a legitimate city government representative. I don't think website is an ideal method in any case.
- rosndo 5y ago
  So your solution is to get rid of speedy emergency requests entirely? Sounds like you’re just repeating the point that authenticating these requests is impossible, as that authentication would have to happen fast. And then you need to do this internationally. What will you do? Contact the embassy? Suddenly your authentication process could take months, which is a problem if you’re legally required to comply sooner than that.
  - Forgeties79 5y ago
    >So your solution is to get rid of speedy emergency requests entirely? Who said that?
    - coospep 5y ago
      That’s the implication. A lengthy verification process makes speedy processing of requests impossible.
      - Forgeties79 5y ago
        A fake subpoena is not a home invasion. It's not like seconds matter.
        coospep 5y ago
        Until you get in trouble for not complying with a real one. Worst case scenario is probably a horrible PR disaster after a child dies because you couldn’t process a real request fast enough. And we’re not talking about seconds, but easily days or weeks.
verve_rat 5y ago
Are the white pages a thing in the States? I mean I want to call some entity in the US that doesn't have its number on a website, how do I do that now in a non emergency situation? Is there any reason that wouldn't work in an emergency? This doesn't seem like an actual problem anyone has ever had.
- rosndo 5y ago
  No, except for easy-to-influence websites that scrape numbers from sketchy sources and accept user submissions without verification. Not that the inability to confirm a phone number in a hypothetical phone book would be an excuse for noncompliance anyway.

So google gets one of these requests and supposedly its from a police force in a small town that has no government website. How do they know who to call to confirm?

l33t2328 5y ago

The secretary of state for that state can provide that information.

cortesoft 5y ago
Only in the United States. There are almost two hundred countries in the world. What if the request comes in from Kiribati?
coospep 5y ago
If you give them days, weeks or perhaps months to come up with a response. Sure. Not going to work internationally anyway.
- verve_rat 5y ago
  You are being intentionally argumentative, and not in a devil's advocate, let's explore all the consequences of the topic at hand kind of way. You are engaging in bad faith, please stop it.
  - Forgeties79 5y ago
    [flagged]
  - rosndo 5y ago
    That’s really not the case. What is “bad faith” about suggesting that the secretary of state probably isn’t going to rapidly solve this problem for you? It’s not even about being a “devils advocate”, the balance of probabilities rests squarely on the side of this being far more difficult than many commenters here try to make it out to be. I think it is you who is engaging in bad faith.

rootusrootus 5y ago

County? State? I would argue that this should be the method anyway. Start from the lowest level of known authentic bureaucracy and then work down from there until you reach a legitimate city government representative. I don't think website is an ideal method in any case.

rosndo 5y ago
So your solution is to get rid of speedy emergency requests entirely? Sounds like you’re just repeating the point that authenticating these requests is impossible, as that authentication would have to happen fast. And then you need to do this internationally. What will you do? Contact the embassy? Suddenly your authentication process could take months, which is a problem if you’re legally required to comply sooner than that.
- Forgeties79 5y ago
  >So your solution is to get rid of speedy emergency requests entirely? Who said that?
  - coospep 5y ago
    That’s the implication. A lengthy verification process makes speedy processing of requests impossible.
    - Forgeties79 5y ago
      A fake subpoena is not a home invasion. It's not like seconds matter.
      - coospep 5y ago
        Until you get in trouble for not complying with a real one. Worst case scenario is probably a horrible PR disaster after a child dies because you couldn’t process a real request fast enough. And we’re not talking about seconds, but easily days or weeks.

verve_rat 5y ago

Are the white pages a thing in the States? I mean I want to call some entity in the US that doesn't have its number on a website, how do I do that now in a non emergency situation? Is there any reason that wouldn't work in an emergency? This doesn't seem like an actual problem anyone has ever had.

rosndo 5y ago
No, except for easy-to-influence websites that scrape numbers from sketchy sources and accept user submissions without verification. Not that the inability to confirm a phone number in a hypothetical phone book would be an excuse for noncompliance anyway.